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Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou, 21 July 1948),
His albums Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat were both certified as Triple Platinum by the RIAA in the United States; his album Catch Bull at Four sold half a million copies in the first two weeks of release alone, and was ''Billboard's number-one LP for three consecutive weeks. He has also earned two ASCAP songwriting awards in consecutive years, for "The First Cut Is the Deepest", which has been a hit single for four different artists.
Stevens converted to Islam at the height of his fame in December, 1977,[title=Cat Stevens - A Musical Journey] and adopted his Muslim name, Yusuf Islam, the following year. In 1979 he auctioned all his guitars away for charity[ work=CBS Sunday Morning This story originally aired on 3 December 2006.] and left his music career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. He has been given several awards for his work in promoting peace in the world, including 2003's World Award, the 2004 Man for Peace Award and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace. In 2006, he returned to pop music, with his first album of new pop songs in 28 years, entitled An Other Cup. He now goes by the single name Yusuf.[title=Yusuf Islam's past, present in harmony on new album]
He currently lives with his wife and children in London, and spends part of each year in Dubai.
His newest album, Roadsinger, was released on May 5, 2009.
Early life (1948�1965)Steven Georgiou was the third child of a Greek-Cypriot father, Stavros Georgiou (b
. 1900)[url=www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/0/c0a000278bb374d0e7ccc4fff9c6f50c/] and a Swedish mother, Ingrid Wickman (b. 1915).[url=www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/0/89e745cf04fb2557b83cc08c8319216d/] He has an older sister, Anita, and brother, David.[publisher=Yusuf Islam official website] The family lived above Moulin Rouge, the restaurant that his parents operated on Shaftesbury Avenue, a few steps from Piccadilly Circus in the Soho theatre district of London. All family members worked in the restaurant.
Although his father was Greek Orthodox and his mother a Swedish Lutheran Protestant, Georgiou was sent to a Catholic school, St. Joseph Roman Catholic Primary School in Macklin Street, which was closer to his father's business on Drury Lane.[title=Interview With Yusuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Larry King Live] Georgiou developed an interest in piano at a fairly young age, eventually using the family baby grand piano to work out the chords, since no one else there played well enough to teach him. With the popularity of The Beatles, at age 15, he extended his interest to the guitar,[url=www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/e7d1d7b4ed05dee95e2e98b6f8b9cabb/] He would escape at times from his family responsibilities to the rooftop above their home, and listen to the tunes of the musicals drifting from just around the corner;[title=VH1 Profiles Cat Stevens in "Behind the Music" ] With interests in both art and music, he and his mother travelled to G�vle, Sweden, where he started developing his drawing skills after being influenced by his uncle Hugo Wickman, a painter.[title=From kitten to cat]
He attended other local West End schools, where he says he was constantly in trouble, and did poorly in everything but art. He was called "the artist boy" and mentions that "I was beat up, but I was noticed."[title=Cat Stevens] He went on to take a one-year course of study at Hammersmith School of Art,[url=news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3679808.stm] as he considered a career as a cartoonist. Though he enjoyed art (his later record albums would feature his original artwork on his album covers),[title=Cat Stevens Biography on Yahoo Music] At that point, his goal was to become a songwriter. Among the musicians who influenced him were Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, blues artists Leadbelly and Muddy Waters,[title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline 1964] John Lennon, Biff Rose (who played on his first album), Leo Kottke,[title=Easy Does It] He also wanted to emulate composers who wrote musicals, like Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. In 1965 he signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and cut several demos, including "The First Cut Is the Deepest".[url=www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/5/060ab65489b4e02c6a8b3d932af0c3b0/]
Musical career (1966�1970)Early musical careerGeorgiou began to perform his songs in coffee houses and pubs. At first he tried forming a band, but soon realised he preferred performing solo.[ url=www.salon.com/people/rewind/1999/08/14/cat/index1.html] In 1966, at age 18, he impressed manager/producer Mike Hurst, formerly of British vocal group The Springfields, with his songs and Hurst arranged for him to record a demo and then helped him get a record deal. The first singles were hits. "I Love My Dog" charted at #28, and "Matthew and Son", the title song from his debut album, went to #2.[title= Yusuf Islam: Biography] "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" reached Britain's Top 10, and the album Matthew and Son itself began charting. The original version of the The Tremeloes cover hit, "Here Comes My Baby", was written and recorded by Stevens.
Over the next two years, Stevens recorded and toured with artists ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Engelbert Humperdinck. The music business hadn't yet begun targeting specific audiences, so he frequently toured with what now would be considered an unusual array of celebrities. Stevens was considered a fresh-faced teen star, placing several single releases in the British pop music charts. Some of that success was attributed to the pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London, which gained him fans by playing his records. In August 1967, he went on the air with other recording artists who had benefited from the station to mourn its closure.
His December 1967 album New Masters failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The album is now most notable for his song "The First Cut Is the Deepest", a song he sold for �30 to P.P. Arnold that was to become a massive hit for her,[title=Profile: Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens: Not so much a zealot more a lost musician] and an international hit for Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, James Morrison, and Sheryl Crow. Forty years after he recorded the first demo of the song, it earned him two back-to-back ASCAP "Songwriter of the Year" awards, in 2005 and 2006.[title=Songwriter of the Year, Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), First Cut Is The Deepest][title=Songwriter of the Year]
TuberculosisStevens was living the fast-moving life of a pop star, and in early 1968 at the age of 19, he became very ill with tuberculosis and a collapsed lung.[ publisher=Disc Magazine ] Near death,
He took up meditation, yoga, metaphysics[title=Cat Stevens 1972 Concert Programme] read about other religions, and became a vegetarian.
Changes in musical sound after illnessThe lack of success of Stevens' second album mirrored a difference of personal tastes in musical direction, and a growing resentment at producer Mike Hurst's attempts to re-create another album like that of his debut, with heavy-handed orchestration, and over-production,
Musical career (1970�1978)Height of popularityHealthy, sporting a new beard, Stevens was armed with a catalogue of new songs that reflected his new perspective on what he wanted to bring to the world with his music. His previous work had sold in the United Kingdom, but Stevens was still relatively unknown by the public across the Atlantic. To rectify this, after signing with Island Records in 1970, an American distribution deal was arranged with A&M; Records' Jerry Moss in North America. Stevens began work on Mona Bone Jakon, a folk-rock based album that was quite different from his earlier "pop" style records, drawing on his new, introspective work.
Producer Paul Samwell-Smith paired guitarist Alun Davies, who was currently working as a session musician, with Stevens. Alun was the more experienced veteran of two albums which already had begun to explore the emerging genres of skiffle and folk rock music. Davies was also thought a perfect fit in particular for his "fingerwork" on the guitar, harmonizing and contributing backing vocals with Stevens. They originally met just to record Mona Bone Jakon,[ access]
The first single released from Mona Bone Jakon was "Lady D'Arbanville", which Stevens wrote about his young American girlfriend Patti D'Arbanville. The record, with a madrigal sound unlike most music played on pop radio, with sounds of djembes and bass in addition to Stevens' and Davies' guitars, soared to #8 in the UK. It was the first of his hits to get real airplay in the United States.[first=Pamela] In addition, the song, "Pop Star", about his experience as a teen star, and "Katmandu", featuring Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel playing flute, were featured. Mona Bone Jakon was an early example of the solo singer-songwriter album format that was becoming popular for other artists as well.
Mona Bone Jakon was the precursor for Stevens' international breakthrough album, Tea for the Tillerman, which became a top-10 Billboard hit. Within 6 months of its release, it had sold over 500,000 copies, reaching gold record status in the United States and in Britain. The combination of Stevens' new folk-rock style and accessible lyrics which spoke of everyday situations and problems, mixed with the beginning of spiritual questions about life, would re
After the end of his relationship with D'Arbanville, Stevens noted the effect it had on writing his music, saying,
"Everything I wrote while I was away was in a transitional period and reflects that. Like Patti. A year ago we split; I had been with her for two years. What I write about Patti and my family... when I sing the songs now, I learn strange things. I learn the meanings of my songs late..."[ url=majicat.com/articles/RS471.htm]
Stevens later was romantically linked to popular singer Carly Simon while both were produced by Samwell-Smith. Stevens and Simon had a love affair from 1971 to 1972, during which time both wrote songs for and about one another. Simon wrote and recorded at least two top 50 songs, "Legend in Your Own Time" and "Anticipation" about Stevens. He reciprocated in his song to her, after their romance, entitled, "Sweet Scarlet".[publisher=NPR][title=Cat Stevens & Carly Simon]
Having established a signature sound, Stevens enjoyed a string of successes over the following years. 1971's Teaser and the Firecat album reached number two and achieved gold record status within three weeks of its release in the United States. It yielded several hits, including "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken" (a Christian hymn with lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon), and "Moon Shadow". This album was also certified by the RIAA as a Multi-Platinum record in 2001, with over three million US sales through that time. When interviewed on a Boston radio station, Stevens said about Teaser and the Firecat:
"I get the tune and then I just keep on singing the tune until the words come out from the tune. It's kind of a hypnotic state that you reach after a while when you keep on playing it where words just evolve from it. So you take those words and just let them go whichever way they want... 'Moonshadow'? Funny, that was in Spain, I went there alone, completely alone, to get away from a few things. And I was dancin' on the rocks there... right on the rocks where the waves were, like, blowin' and splashin'. Really, it was so fantastic. And the moon was bright, ya know, and I started dancin' and singin' and I sang that song and it stayed. It's just the kind of moment that you want to find when you're writin' songs."[ publisher=Rolling Stone] His next album, Catch Bull at Four, released in 1972, was his most rapidly successful album in the United States, reaching gold record status in 15 days, and holding the number-one position on the Billboard charts for three weeks. This album continued the introspective and spiritual lyrics that he was known for, combined with a rougher-edged voice and a less acoustic sound than his previous records, utilizing synthesizers and other instruments. Although the sales of the album indicated Stevens' popularity, the album did not produce any real hits, with the exception of the single "Sitting", which charted at #16. Catch Bull at Four was Platinum certified in 2001.
Exploration with movie soundtracksIn July 1970, Stevens recorded one of his songs, "But I Might Die Tonight", for the Jerzy Skolimowski film Deep End, which featured Jane Asher.[url=www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/10/a45dd1dc1476115ceb7fa21a45cbcd0f/]
In 1971, Stevens provided nine songs to the soundtrack of the film Harold and Maude. Two of the songs, "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out", were not featured on any album until their inclusion on a second "greatest hits" collection: Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, in 1984. Harold and Maude, a black comedy starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort, became a popular cult movie celebrating the free spirit, and brought Stevens' music to a wider audience, continuing to do so long after he stopped recording in the late 1970s. Among other songs included were "Where Do the Children Play?", "Trouble", and "I Think I See the Light".
After his religious conversion in the late 1970s, Stevens stopped granting permission for his songs to be used in films. Eventually, however, almost twenty years later, in 1997, the movie Rushmore was allowed to use his songs "Here Comes My Baby" and "The Wind", showing a new willingness on his part to release his music from his Western "pop star" days.[title=VH1 Profiles Cat Stevens in "Behind the Music" ] This was followed in 2000 by the inclusion of "Peace Train" in the movie Remember the Titans, in 2000 by Cameron Crowe's use in Almost Famous of the song "The Wind". and in 2006 the inclusion of "Peace Train" on the soundtrack to 'We Are Marshall' ".. In 2007, an excerpt of "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" is sung by charqacters in Charlie Bartlett as an apparent reference to Harold and Maude:; the character of Charlie bares a considerable resemblence to the character of Harold.
Later Cat Stevens recordingsSubsequent releases in the 1970s also did well on the charts and in ongoing sales, although they did not touch the success he had from 1970 to 1973. In 1973, Stevens moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to avoid taxation from the United Kingdom.
During that time he created the album Foreigner, an album which was a departure from the music that had brought him to the height of his fame. It differed in several respects: entirely written by Stevens, he dropped his band and produced the record without the assistance of Samwell-Smith, who had played a large role in catapulting him to fame, and instead of guitar, he played keyboards throughout the album. It was intended to show the funk/soul element that he had come to appreciate. One side of Foreigner was continuous, much different than the radio friendly pop tunes fans had come to expect. He performed the album on an uninterrupted ABC network television broadcast titled the "Moon and Star" concert. The album produced a couple of singles including "The Hurt", but did not reach the heights he had once enjoyed.
The follow-up to Foreigner was Buddha and the Chocolate Box, largely a return to the instrumentation and styles employed in Teaser and the Firecat and Tea for the Tillerman. Featuring the return of Alun Davies and best known for "Oh Very Young", Buddha and the Chocolate Box reached platinum status in 2001. However, Stevens' next album was the concept album Numbers, a less successful departure for him.
The 1977 Izitso included his last chart hit, "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard", a duet with fellow UK singer Elkie Brooks. Linda Lewis appears in the song's video, with Cat Stevens singing to her, as they play former schoolmates, singing to each other on a schoolyard "merry-go-round". This is one of few videos that Stevens made, other than simple videos of concert performances.
His final original album under the name Cat Stevens was Back to Earth, released in late 1978, which was also the first album produced by Samwell-Smith since his peak in single album sales in the early 1970s.
Several compilation albums were released before and after he stopped recording. After Stevens left Decca Records they bundled his first two albums together on their label as a set, hoping to ride the commercial tide of his early success; later his newer labels did the same, and he himself released compilations. The most successful of the compilation albums was the 1975 Greatest Hits which has sold over 4 million copies in the United States. In May 2003 he received his first Platinum Europe Award from the IFPI for Remember Cat Stevens, The Ultimate Collection, indicating over one million European sales.
Religious conversionYusuf in 2008
While vacationing in Marrakech, Morocco, Stevens was intrigued by the sound of the A?han, the Islamic ritual call to prayer, which was explained to him as "music for God." Stevens said, "I thought, music for God? I�d never heard that before – I�d heard of music for money, music for fame, music for personal power, but music for God!"
Realizing there were few educational resources designed to teach children about the Islamic religion, Yusuf wrote and produced a children's album, A Is for Allah, in 2000[last=Nolen] with the assistance of South African singer-songwriter Zain Bhikha. The title song was one Yusuf had written years before to introduce his first child to both the religion and the Arabic alphabet. He also established his own record label, "Jamal Records", and Mountain of Light Productions, and he donates a percentage of his projects' proceeds to his Small Kindness charity, whose name is taken from the Qur'an.
On the occasion of the 2000 re-release of his Cat Stevens albums, he explained that he had stopped performing in English due to his misunderstanding of the Islamic faith. "This issue of music in Islam is not as cut-and-dried as I was led to believe ... I relied on heresy [2], that was perhaps my mistake."
Yusuf has discussed feeling that his decision to leave the Western pop music business was perhaps one that was too quick with too little communication for his fans. For most, it was a surprise, and even his guitarist, Alun Davies said in later interviews that he hadn't believed that Stevens would actually go through with it, after his many forays into other religions throughout their relationship.[title=NEW Yusuf Islam Interview And A Is For Allah Peace Train Cat Stevens]
In 2003, after repeated encouragement from within the Muslim world,
On 21 April 2005 Yusuf gave a short talk before a scheduled musical performance in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. He said, "There is a great deal of ignorance in the world about Islam today, and we hope to communicate with the help of something more refined than lectures and talks. Our recordings are particularly appealing to the young, having used songs as well as Qur'an verses with pleasing sound effects..."[title=New Recordings by Yusuf Islam] Yusuf explained that while there had been no real guidelines about instruments in the Qur'an, and no reference about the business of music, it had been Muslim travellers who first brought the guitar to Moorish Spain. He noted that Muhammad was fond of celebrations, as in the case of the birth of a child, or a traveller arriving after a long journey. Thus, Yusuf concluded that healthy entertainment was acceptable within limitations, and that he now felt that it was no sin to perform with the guitar. Music, he now felt, is uplifting to the soul; something sorely needed in troubled times.[title=Yusuf Islam in Abu Dhabi] At that point, he was joined by several young male singers who sang backing vocals and played a drum, with Yusuf as lead singer and guitarist. They performed two songs, both half in Arabic, and half in English; "Tala'a Al-Badru Alayna", an old song in Arabic which Yusuf recorded with a folk sound to it, and another song, "The Wind East and West", which was newly written by Yusuf and featured a distinct R&B; sound.
With this performance, Yusuf began slowly to integrate instruments into both older material from his Cat Stevens era (some with slight lyrical changes) and new songs, both those known to the Muslim communities around the world and some that have the same Western flair from before with a focus on new topics and another generation of listeners.
In a 2005 press release, he explained his revived recording career:
quote After I embraced Islam, many people told me to carry on composing and recording, but at the time I was hesitant, for fear that it might be for the wrong reasons. I felt unsure what the right course of action was. I guess it is only now, after all these years, that I've come to fully understand and appreciate what everyone has been asking of me. It's as if I've come full circle; however, I have gathered a lot of knowledge on the subject in the meantime.
In early 2005, Yusuf released a new song entitled "Indian Ocean" about the 2004 tsunami disaster. The song featured Indian composer/producer A. R. Rahman, a-ha keyboard player Magne Furuholmen and Travis drummer Neil Primrose. Proceeds of the single went to help orphans in Banda Aceh, one of the areas worst affected by the tsunami, through Yusuf's Small Kindness charity. At first, the single was released only through several online music stores but later featured on the compilation album Cat Stevens: Gold. "I had to learn my faith and look after my family, and I had to make priorities. But now I've done it all and there's a little space for me to fill in the universe of music again."[title=The Billboard Q and A: Yusuf Islam]
On 28 May 2005, Yusuf delivered a keynote speech and performed at the Adopt-A-Minefield Gala in D�sseldorf. The Adopt-A-Minefield charity, under the patronage of Paul McCartney, works internationally to raise awareness and funds to clear landmines and rehabilitate landmine survivors. Yusuf attended as part of an honorary committee which also included George Martin, Richard Branson, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Klaus Voormann, Christopher Lee and others.
In mid-2005, Yusuf played guitar for the Dolly Parton album, Those Were the Days, on her version of his "Where Do the Children Play?". (Parton had also covered "Peace Train" a few years earlier.)
In May 2006, in anticipation of his forthcoming new pop album, the BBC1 programme "Imagine" aired a 49-minute documentary with Alan Yentob called Yusuf: The Artist formerly Known as Cat Stevens. This documentary film features rare audio and video clips from the late 1960s and 1970s, as well as an extensive interview with Yusuf, his brother David Gordon, several record executives, Bob Geldof, Dolly Parton, and others outlining his career as Cat Stevens, his conversion and emergence as Yusuf Islam, and his return to music in 2006. There are clips of him singing in the studio when he was recording An Other Cup as well as a few 2006 excerpts of him on guitar singing a few verses of Cat Stevens songs including "The Wind" and "On the Road to Find Out".
Yusuf has credited his then 21-year-old son Muhammad Islam, also a musician and artist, for his return to secular music, when the son brought a guitar back into the house, which Yusuf began playing.
Starting in 2006, the Cat Stevens song "Tea for The Tillerman" was used as the theme tune for the Ricky Gervais BBC-HBO sitcom Extras. A Christmas-season television commercial for gift-giving by the diamond industry aired in 2006 with Cat Power's cover of "How Can I Tell You". That song is also covered by John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers frequently in concert.
In December 2006, Yusuf was one of the artists who performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, in honour of the prize winners, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. He performed the songs "Midday (Avoid City After Dark)", "Peace Train", and "Heaven/Where True Love Goes". He also gave a concert in New York City that month as a Jazz at Lincoln Center event, recorded and broadcast by KCRW-FM radio, along with an interview by Nic Harcourt. Accompanying him, as he had in the Cat Stevens days, was Alun Davies, on guitar and vocals.
In April 2007, BBC1 broadcast a concert given at the Porchester Hall by Yusuf as part of BBC Sessions, his first live performance in London in 28 years (the previous one being the UNICEF "Year of the Child" concert in 1979). He played several new songs along with some old ones like "Father and Son", "The Wind", "Where Do the Children Play?", "Don't Be Shy", "Wild World", and "Peace Train".
In July 2007, he performed at a concert in Bochum, Germany, in benefit of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Peace Centre in South Africa and the Milagro Foundation of Deborah and Carlos Santana. The audience included Nobel Laureates Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu and other prominent global figures. He later appeared as the final act in the German leg of Live Earth in Hamburg performing some classic Cat Stevens songs and more recent compositions reflecting his concern for peace and child welfare. His set included Stevie Wonder's "Saturn", "Peace Train", "Where Do the Children Play?", "Ruins", and "Wild World". He performed at the Peace One Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 21 September 2007.
In 2008 Yusuf contributed the song "Edge of Existence" to the Survival International charity album Songs for Survival.
In January 2009, Yusuf released a charity song in aid of children in Gaza. He recorded a rendition of the George Harrison song "The Day the World Gets Round", along with the German bassist and former Beatles collaborator Klaus Voorman. Yusuf said that all proceeds from the song will be donated to the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and to the nonprofit group Save the Children to be directed to aiding Gaza residents. Israeli Consul David Saranga criticized Yusuf for not dedicating the song to all the children who are victims of the violence, including Israeli children.[Israeli Official Blasts Cat Stevens' Song for Gaza Children, Joshua Rhett Miller, Fox News, January 26, 2009.]
An Other CupIn March 2006, Yusuf finished recording his first all-new pop album since 1978.[title=A cat in a wild world] The album, An Other Cup, was released internationally in November 2006 on his own label, Ya Records (distributed by Polydor Records in the UK and internationally by Atlantic Records) � the 40th anniversary of his first album, Matthew and Son. A single, called Heaven/Where True Love Goes, was simultaneously released. The album was produced with Rick Nowels, who has worked with Dido and Rod Stewart. The performer is noted as "Yusuf", with a cover label identifying him as "the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens". The art on the album is credited to Yoriyos. Yusuf wrote all of the songs except "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", and recorded it in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Yusuf actively promoted this album, appearing on radio, television and in print interviews. In November, 2006, he told the BBC, "It's me, so it's going to sound like that of course ... This is the real thing... . When my son brought the guitar back into the house, you know, that was the turning point. It opened a flood of, of new ideas and music which I think a lot of people would connect with."
Originally, Yusuf began to return only to his acoustic guitar as he had in the past, but his son encouraged him to "experiment", which resulted in the purchase of a Stevie Ray Vaughan Fender Stratocaster[title=Folk artist Yusuf Islam to sing about deportation] in 2007.
Also in November 2006, Billboard magazine was curious as to why the artist is credited as just his first name, "Yusuf" rather than "Yusuf Islam".
Yusuf was asked by the Swiss periodical Das Magazin why the title of the album was An Other Cup, rather than "Another Cup". The answer was that his breakthrough album, Tea for the Tillerman in 1970, was decorated with Yusuf's painting of a peasant sitting down to a cup of steaming drink on the land. Yusuf commented that the two worlds "then, and now, are very different." His new album shows a steaming cup alone on this cover. His answer was that this was actually an other cup; something different; a bridge between the East and West, which Yusuf explained was his own perceived role. He added that, through him, "Westerners might get a glimpse of the East, and Easterners, some understanding of the West. The cup, too, is important; it's a meeting place, a thing meant to be shared."
On CBS Sunday Morning in December 2006, he said, "You know, the cup is there to be filled ... with whatever you want to fill it with. For those people looking for Cat Stevens, they'll probably find him in this record. If you want to find [3] Islam, go a bit deeper, you'll find him."
Yusuf has since described the album as being too "over-produced" and refers to An Other Cup as being a necessary hurdle he had to overcome before he could release his new album, Roadsinger. Yusuf compares the relationship between An Other Cup and Roadsinger to the relationship between the Cat Stevens albums Mona Bone Jakon and the landmark Tea for the Tillerman with the latter being superior in quality to the former.
2008 and 2009 projectsIn January 2009, Yusuf recorded a George Harrison song, "The Day the World Gets Round", collaborating with Klaus Voormann. Proceeds from the song were donated to a charity to help the people of war-torn Gaza. To promote the new single, Voormann re-designed his famous Beatles Revolver album cover, drawing a picture of a young Cat Stevens along with himself and George Harrison.
' 50th Anniversary Photo: Izzy
A new pop album, Roadsinger, was released on May 5, 2009. The lead track, "Thinking 'Bout You", received its debut radio play on a BBC programme on March 23, 2009. Unlike An Other Cup, Yusuf promoted the new album with appearances on American television as well as in the U.K.. He appeared on the first episode of the Chris Isaak Show on the A&E; network in April, 2009, performing live versions of his new songs, "World O'Darkness", "Boots and Sand", and "Roadsinger". On 13 May he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in Los Angeles, and on 14 May, on The Colbert Report in New York City, performing the title song from the Roadsinger album. On 15th May, he appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performing "Boots and Sand" and "Father and Son". On May 24 he appeared on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show, where he was interviewed and performed the title track of Roadsinger. On August 15, he was one of many guests at Fairport Convention's annual Cropredy Convention. He performed five songs with Fairport Convention as his backing band, including "Peace Train" and "Roadsinger".
A world tour was announced on his web site to promote the new album. He was scheduled to perform at an invitation-only concert at New York City's Highline Ballroom on May 3 and to go on to Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto, as well as some to-be-announced European venues.
AwardsPhilanthropic and humanitarian awards- 2003 World Award also known as the "World Social Award" for "humanitarian relief work helping children and victims of war".
[title=The World Awards 2003 Honoring The Best]
- 2004 Man for Peace Award presented by Mikhail Gorbachev for his "dedication to promote peace, the reconciliation of people and to condemn terrorism", the ceremony was held in Rome, Italy and attended by five Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
- (2005) Honorary Doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire for services to education and humanitarian relief.
- (2007) The Mediterranean Prize for Peace in Naples, Italy. He received the award "as a result of the work he has done to increase peace in the world".
- 10 July 2007, honorary doctorate (LLD) by the University of Exeter, in recognition of "his humanitarian work and improving understanding between Islamic and Western cultures". The ceremony was attended by esteemed personalities including Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and guitarist Brian May.
Music awards and recognition- 20 October 2005, ASCAP named Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year for "The First Cut Is the Deepest"
[title=2005 ASCAP Press release ]
- 8 June 2006, listed as #49 in Paste magazine's "100 Best Living Songwriters".
[title=Paste's 100 Best Living Songwriters: The List]
- 11 October 2006, awarded Songwriter of the Year for the second year running, for the same song "The First Cut Is the Deepest".
- 25 March 2007, received the German ECHO "special award for life achievements as musician and ambassador between cultures", Europe's Grammy, in Berlin
- 2008 Nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Discography
Copyright Citations
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